


come undone with me

by nowayout



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, M/M, Mind Games, Non-Linear Narrative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 08:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4342094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowayout/pseuds/nowayout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You need your pack, Scott,” he tells him, understanding and regretful all at once, the very literal wolf in sheep’s clothing, and he doesn’t say <em>but remember you don’t have anyone</em>, although they both know it’s what he means. He smirks, watches Scott watch the point where their knees are touching, <em>you don’t have anyone, Scott, but I’m still here, what does that tell you.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	come undone with me

**Author's Note:**

> AHAHAHAHAHAHA after the latest ep I'm Theo's biggest fan. Gaaaah how I missed having a psycho ship.  
> Title is from "State of Seduction" by Digital Daggers.

 

Scott’s eyes are hollow, silent despair giving way to cold blue resignation, the kind that can only stem from loneliness, _this is how the end begins_ , and Theo almost feels bad for him. Almost. But the thought of his own victory, nearly tangible now, a certainty glowing bright red right before his eyes is too elating, too intense, and Theo prefers to lose himself in it rather than reflect on Scott’s downward spiral. He won’t need Scott much longer. He’s this close to winning and Scott is on the verge of losing everything, lonely and alone and broken, _this is how the sun dies out_.

 

“You need your pack, Scott,” he tells him, understanding and regretful all at once, the very literal wolf in sheep’s clothing, and he doesn’t say _but remember you don’t have anyone_ , although they both know it’s what he means. He smirks, watches Scott watch the point where their knees are touching, _you_ _don’t have anyone, Scott, but I’m still here, what does that tell you_.

 

*

 

He isn’t the boy Scott taught how to breathe when it felt like his entire body was giving out on him. He isn’t what his looks suggest. He doesn’t have what Scott wants, but Scott is so eager to find goodness in others, to nurture it like the hero that he is, to cure the monsters and save them from the venom coursing through their own veins. So Theo plays his part, trades flaming eyes and razor-edged grins for honey smiles and kind gestures. He helps, protects, saves Scott and his pack. He wraps up his poison in a silken innocence he never truly had, wide eyes and earnest confessions, and offers it to Scott like a tribute.

 

Scott is so willing to believe his kindness is genuine that he begins to ignore the alarm bells that the voices of his friends bring.

 

*

 

You need a pack, you need someone, _but you don’t need them, Scott, you need me._

 

*

 

They’re flawed, all of them, damaged because they have already seen too much and at the same time not enough. They are children who don’t know how to use their powers, how to control them, too emotionally invested, helplessly connected to one another, tangled like dried branches that are just begging to be snapped.

 

Theo observes from the sidelines, hiding around corners, hiding in the shadows. They could be invincible but they’re the farthest thing from it, led by a boy who is too gentle and _good_ to ever reach his true potential, wasting power and hurting himself in the process.

 

Scott doesn’t realize what he’s created, this fragile house of cards that he’s built around himself, waiting for just a feeble gust of wind to come and give it permission to fall apart. Theo points out all the cracks and the chipped paint, murmuring what ifs and maybes. He teaches Scott to doubt longtime devotion and instant bonds, they can’t be trusted, Scott, they can’t be trusted, _trust me_.

 

He touches the inside of Scott’s wrist, fingers lingering just a little too long, a threat and a promise Scott doesn’t understand yet.

 

*

 

Scott’s world starts to crumble and Theo stays by his side when the others don’t. He stays and watches with satisfied grins that he doesn’t bother trying to hide anymore how Scott subconsciously pushes the others away, again and again, until they turn into angry strangers.

 

They’re all hurting, flesh wounds and soul wounds, and Theo keeps smiling, greeting Scott with sugar words each morning and keeping one arm wrapped lazily around his shoulders, claiming possession, leaving a temporary mark. From across the parking lot Stiles shoots them a quick glance before burying his head back under the hood of his Jeep. Theo steadily ignores the sour scent of sheer misery and pulls Scott closer, biting back a slightly hysterical laugh. Scott and Stiles can pretend all they want, but their codependency has always been more destructive than anything Theo could plan.

 

It could be that Scott likes having unhealthy relationships. Maybe he’s always wanted to be ruined.

 

*

 

What a mess, Theo thinks to himself, whispering encouragements with gentle fingers and bloodstained lips. Scott’s almost catatonic, soft and pliant in Theo’s arms, the endless spark inside him devoured and spat out, a gooey goldred blotch on the pristine floor. What a mess Scott’s life has become. Has always been.

 

It could have never worked, Scott’s pack. Not with a girlfriend who only needed a tiny nudge to become an enemy, with the little one and all his insecurities and secrets and uncontrollable rage, with Stiles who is willing to put a bullet through his own brain whenever there’s the slightest chance that Scott won’t open his eyes again. It couldn’t have worked with Scott constantly rejecting the power he should have never hesitated to use.

 

Scott should be grateful. Ultimately, Theo is actually doing him a favor.

 

*

 

“Scott, let me help. I just want to help you. Please. Let me help you.”

 

It isn’t the first time he’s asking and there’s no guarantee he’ll be more successful now than he’s been in the past, but it’s just him and Scott in the empty classroom, no meddling best friends around to ruin Theo’s plans. And Scott is letting him come closeclosecloser, chests touching every time they breathe in, raggedly, unnecessarily, his chocolate eyes sparkling like he’s thinking _yeah, maybe I could_ and Theo lets him believe it, _yes, maybe you could_.

 

So he tries again, looking up and tilting his head just a little to the right, baring his neck but not really. “Let me help you like you helped me when we were kids,” he says with a deceiving tenderness in his voice that he’s perfected by now, and he sees it, sees the moment Scott’s resolve starts to falter, previously distrustful eyes going soft and hopeful.

 

He cups Scott’s cheek, gently, tentatively, expecting Scott to say something, to push him away. But Scott doesn’t, not even when Theo’s thumb grazes his cheekbone for a split second, and Theo holds his breath, a criminal waiting for the verdict, until, finally, Scott nods.

 

“Okay.”


End file.
